Maine Infonet Download Library, Powered by Overdrive

1. First, make sure you have an active library card. You can log in to the Minerva My Account page to see what the expiration date is on your card. Cards expire once a year so that we can confirm your contact information. If your card is expired you may call the library to renew it.
2. Second, prepare your computer for its new job. Details of this process are available in the Quick Start Guide on the Download Library home page.
   • Download and install the free software (Overdrive Media Console)
   • A Security Update must be performed on Windows Media Player the first time a WMA [see below] file is opened.
   • Check the software pre-requisites: you may may need newer releases of Media Player, or i-Tunes.
3. View the Download Library directly from your browser, or link to it from the CML web site. The Download Library (which had 1000 items as it opened and grows each month) has books in two different formats:
   • WMA (Windows Media Audio) – a smaller file, so it downloads faster, but it works on Windows only. More items in the library are in this format.
   • MP3 – Runs on Macs and Windows, and may be the required format for some titles to be transferred to an Apple device. 
   • Lists of items may be requested by type of book (WMA, MP3), by genre, by audience (children, teens), or even by date of addition to the library.
4. Choose an item and download. Note that the loan term is 7 days, with no renewals and no early returns. You may download up to two items at any one time.
   • Choose the item you want and add it to your cart.
   • If the item is not currently available you may place a hold on it. You will be notified by e-mail when the item is available for you. From that point you have 3 days to download the item before it will be returned to the library for the next user.
   • Proceed to Checkout, where you must enter your library and card number. Download your item, selecting where to place the files. You may choose to download all or a portion of the item. If you download only a portion of the item, you may download the rest by logging in to the Online Library and clicking on the “my account” tab to locate items you have checked out.
   • Most items act like physical books in that they can be used by one patron at a time. Some items however are categorized as “always available”, meaning that any number of people may download this item at once.
5. Once you download an item to your PC, use the Overdrive Media Console (OMC) to either play the item, transfer it to a mobile device, or, when the rights allow it, to burn the item to a CD.
6. When the item expires, it will be removed automatically from the OMC, which will remove the files from your PC. If you aren’t finished listening to the item you may download it again as long as it isn’t on hold for someone else.
7. Check the FAQs on the Downloadable Library Help Page when you have questions, or contact the reference staff at the library.